Call of the Tsungi Horn
by ZAFO
Summary: Zuko thinks that dancing is a stupid idea, and ultimately chooses logic over faith when Aang presses him to cooperate a second time. Set during "The Firebending Masters" episode.
1. rough arrival

**Title: **Call of the Tsungi Horn**  
Rating: **T**  
Fandom: **Avatar: The Last Airbender/Harry Potter Crossover**  
Genres: **Humor, Friendship**  
Summary: **Zuko thinks that dancing is a stupid idea, and ultimately chooses logic over faith when Aang presses him to cooperate a second time. Set during "The Firebending Masters" episode.

**A/N: ** this idea just wouldn't leave me alone ahahahaha! told in short drabbles cos i'm currently experimenting with different writing styles...

* * *

—

**1.**

They are standing back-to-back under a burning hot sun; terrified out of their minds and surrounded by red and blue bodies of dragons supposedly long dead.

Despite his fear, however, Aang retains enough sense to look around them, and gathers that the master's movements hold a specific pattern. Ran and Shaw possess no limbs, but manage to mimic human motions extremely similar to the statues he and Zuko had discovered a day earlier...

"Zuko, I think we're supposed to do the dragon dance with them!" he whispers urgently.

The fire prince snaps his head back, hissing:

"What? What about this situation makes you think they want us to dance?"

"Well, I think they want us to do _something!" _Aang retorts testily. "Let's just try it!"

In another universe, Zuko sets aside his pride and _believes_ in his blue-tattooed friend, and together they learn the secret of fire in a blaze of rainbow prism.

...In _this_ universe, however, Zuko still thinks that dancing is a stupid idea when they were quite possibly about to die. In his mind he tells himself that he would rather not provide a monkey show to sun warriors he knew were probably snickering at them down below. He's horrible at dancing anyway and looks suspicious enough hanging around a twelve-year-old boy—Avatar or not—without the added tango.

"_No." _ he says decisively.

Aang bristles, but before the airbender has a chance to protest, the masters stop flying and perch against the stone stairs on opposite sides. He shuts his mouth but cannot shut his eyes. The red one, Shaw, is staring straight at him. With Zuko, Ran's blue muzzle snarls with intelligent contempt.

The youngsters shiver.

Ran and Shaw very briefly look over their heads, at one another, before focusing their "judgment" once again on the duo.

They open their mouths and breathe fire.

Aang and Zuko scream,

And the boys disappear in a vortex of pitch-black flames.

—

**2.**

When they awaken their limbs are draped over each other, and a headache rules over them both as they slowly drag themselves off. Aang's face is smudged with dirt. Zuko has twigs and leaves in his hair—along with a creepy-crawly or two—and Aang finds himself thankful that he regularly shaves his head.

"Where are we?" he moans groggily.

Zuko blinks and takes in their surroundings. Piercing gold eyes narrow at the darkness and dank.

"I don't know." he says honestly. "Looks like some kind of forest."

_'Some kind' _meaning_ 'I've never seen anything like this before.' _ The trees are gargantuan and almost barren until they crane their necks up to look higher. Their feet rest atop a layer of moss that is gray and wet and smells of decay. There are no signs of life around them, and thick white mists drifts in and out of their vision. The airbender begins to feel a vague sense of panic sink in.

This place is weird, and also all-too-familiar...

Aang tugs on the older boy's sleeve and whimpers softly.

"Zuko. I think...I think we're in the spirit world."

"WHAT?"

—

**3.**

Aang stands by his belief that Zuko is _not-as-much-of-a-jerk-as-he-could-have-been, _but then remembers the fireballs that had been shot at him earlier and shudders nonetheless. (1)

"Sorry." Zuko mutters, noticing the bald boy shiver. He feels like a bully, and supposes that this is just what he gets. "I just can't believe that I'm dead."

"We don't know that for sure..." Aang says cautiously. "I've been to the spirit world before, and my physical body was still alive in the real world."

"Yeah, well was your physical body engulfed in flames before you went?"

"No." he gulps.

"Then shut up." sighs Zuko, trudging on.

If there was one good thing about dying, it was that his bending still worked and that his swords had somehow gone with him. He slices through the gloomy foliage and motions for Aang to stay close. The air nomad looks young and helpless, and Zuko feels a surge of pity well up for the boy who was supposed to save the world. It's his destiny, after all, and while Zuko wants to believe they'll both be alright, he can't help but feel pessimistic at the odds of their future...or lack thereof.

But teenagers tend not to hold as much faith as children, and after nearly an hour of walking, Aang manages to regain his voice.

"Hey, Zuko. You...didn't feel any pain when you died, right?"

He cocks an eyebrow.

"No." he answers slowly. "Why?'

"Well..." Aang fidgets. "If we died, then we would've felt it, right? I mean, when Azula shot me with lightning it was the most pain I've ever felt in my life."

"You really died that day?" Zuko asks, shocked.

Aang nods.

"Yeah. Katara was only able to bring me back because we had water from the spirit oasis."

Zuko touches his scar unconsciously.

"Sorry." he says again.

"It's okay. It wasn't you."

"Still..."

"I said it's okay! Besides, you're on our side now."

"Uh-huh."

"Anyway," Aang continues. "I really do think we're still alive, Zuko."

"Yeah? Then how do we get out of here...?"

Aang shrugs helplessly.

"I don't know. But, maybe we can find Avatar Roku and ask him!"

Zuko nods stiffly, deciding, this time, to actually follow the Avatar's lead. He can't help but think that, maybe, if he had just _danced _before Ran and Shaw...

He shakes his head. He doesn't want to think about it.

"You know," Zuko says casually, wanting to distract himself. "Avatar Roku was my other grandfather."

Aang is silent.

"...what?" he asks finally.

They are as awkward as baby turtle-ducks for another half-hour.

—

**4.**

When Zuko finally gets Aang to stop calling him _'whippersnapper,' _they come-face-to face with a giant spider-cat missing the ears and the tail.

Aang is a hippie and thinks it's a spirit. He bows to it while clutching onto Zuko's robes.

"G-greetings great spirit...do you k-know where Avatar Roku is?"

The creature chuckles deeply, amused, and answers with venom dripping from it's fangs.

"My, my, my...I have never heard a human address me so formally. But I must answer, unfortunately, that I know not of this_ 'Avatar Roku.'"_

"O-kay." he stutters. "T-then I guess we'll just be going..."

"Not so fast." says Aragog. "Polite as you are, I cannot deny my children fresh meat."

Aang shrieks as the acromantulas swarm. Zuko pries his hands off and jumps into action immediately, flipping onto his palms and flaring his legs out like a spinning top. Aang blows himself into safety as fire erupts from the soles of his friend's feet.

The monsters closest to them draw back; but they retain the advantage of numbers and keep coming nonetheless. Aang is helping now too and blasts chunks of the horde away with air, but there still are too many and both benders are quickly growing exhausted.

So Zuko does the only thing he can think of: he sets the whole forest on fire.

"AANG!" he shouts. "FLY US OUTTA HERE!"

"WHAT?" Aang screams back, as the pyre spreads quickly from tree to tree. "BUT I DON'T HAVE MY GLIDER!"

Whatever curse words Zuko fires back with is drowned out by the squeals of panicked acromantulas.

—

**5.**

By some miracle of fate, Aang and Zuko make it out of the burning section of the forest alive. They look behind themselves—at the not-so-distant red-orange glow—and pant heavily.

"We made it." Zuko gasps, hands on his knees. He is glad that he has managed to get away from the fiasco with no new scars.

"Yeah." replies Aang, relieved. "We did."

That relief soon dissipates, however, upon hearing a stampede of hooves their way. Soon, man-horse hybrids come into light, and the duo pales upon seeing their new enemies.

"INSOLENT HUMANS!" roars Magorian. "YOU WILL PAY FOR TRESPASSING OUR TERRITORY!"

Ronan glares. Although the centaur dislikes humans too, he would've spoken out for Zuko and Aang seeing as they were still foals. But, these two had also set the forest on fire, and so instead he shoots the first arrow.

Aang slices the weapon in half with a blade of air.

All doubts that Firenze and Bane have about their threat level are abandoned as soon as Zuko follows the defense with another fireball.

Minutes later, the human pair are scurrying frantically through Forbidden Forest, with arrows raining down on their backs.

"THESE THINGS ARE EVEN WORSE THAN THE YUYAN ARCHERS!" Aang shouts.

Silently, Zuko agrees.

—

**6.**

It is by another miracle of fate that Aang and Zuko manage to lose the furious centaurs and safely crawl out of the forest altogether. Once a sizable distance is finally between themselves and the edges of the dark woodlands, they allow themselves a breather and collapse onto the nice soft grass.

Running his hands through blades of green, Aang closes his eyes and breathes deeply. Zuko does the same. It is fast approaching nighttime now and the stars are beginning to come into view.

"We have to find shelter." Zuko says after a while.

"How about those ruins over there?" suggests Aang.

The firebender takes one look at the decrepit, decaying sign ahead of them that says _'KEEP OUT' _and blanches.

"Aang...what makes you think that place is safe?"

"Nothing can be as bad as that forest." the monk counters defensively.

Zuko groans and refuses to get up until Aang blows moist air into his ears.

Fireballs, of course, soon follow.

—

**7.**

Aang and Zuko are muggles but posses enough spirit energy to—just barely—resist the muggle wards set up around Hogwarts. They push through despite the nagging feelings in the back of their minds that they forgot something and needed to be somewhere else...

The spirit world is a funny place, Aang decides, because once they march past the scary warning sign, a great castle comes into view.

Aang and Zuko stare in awe.

"Well...l-let's go in already!" Zuko stammers. "I'm getting cold."

Aang snickers upon remembering that firebenders are sensitive to temperature change. He wonders how Zuko ever survived the siege of the North pole with no Water Tribe parka...

"Okay okay! Let's go."

The massive stone doors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are closed. Aang simply earthbends them in.

—

**8.**

"This place is creepy." Zuko complains.

"But it's cool!" Aang replies cheerfully.

The castle is illuminated by dull candlelight secured above them on walls. Portraits of pale people in foreign garbs move about their frames and gossip eagerly about the strange newcomers. Empty suits of armor clink and cock their heads to the side examining them.

Aang offers them all friendly waves. Zuko offers them all ugly scowls.

"No it's not." Zuko growls. "It's like we're stuck in some sort of nightmare."

"You're silly." chuckles Aang, and the older boy shoots him a fearsome death glare. "Anyway, I smell food! Do you?"

Zuko stops and sniffs the air.

"Now that you mention it...I kinda do."

"And," Aang continues. "Is it just me, or or do you hear _people_ too?"

Zuko's eyes widen.

'Yeah...I do!" he says.

"It's coming from that direction!" Aang points.

He runs ahead. Zuko squints down the narrow hallway Aang scuttles into. There are enormous wooden doors at the end with light streaming in from the bottom. Faint noise is buzzing from the inside. The door handles are not out of reach, however, and after Aang grabs onto them and jiggles them about, he shouts excitedly for Zuko to hurry up and come over.

The fire prince only slightly increases the speed of his steps.

Losing patience, Aang goes in without him.

—

**9.**

Harry, Ron, and Hermione are having dinner when a bald boy with a blue arrow on his head bursts into Hogwart's dining room.

All four houses, along with the table of professors, simultaneously grow silent as the boy looks around himself, eyes wide. He is dressed in muggle Tibetan monk robes, says Hermione, and Ron asks her where Tibet is before Harry shushes them both.

The boy's roaming, dark-gray orbs wander about until they settle on Dumbledore. The old headmaster himself looks surprised when the monk's confusion seems to fade at his sight. The boy's eyes sparkle as he grins and suddenly makes a wide sweeping motion with his arms: a spinning ball of air materializes below him as he sits on it and_ flies _over to the old man.

Harry's jaw drops along with those of his peers.

"AVATAR ROKU!" the boy shouts happily.

"Excuse me?" Dumbledore blinks.

McGonagall lets out an indignant _'Why, I never!'_ when the boy's air ball drops and he lands atop her Yorkshire pudding. Snape merely sneers and makes an unpleasant face at his arrival.

"I've been looking _everywhere_ for you!" Aang babbles, oblivious to the meal he had just ruined and the dining room's incredulous stares. "You gotta help me and Zuko get back to the real world, Roku! We have to make it back in time for the comet!"

"AANG!" a new voice shouts, and students and professors alike temporarily tear their attention away from the bald boy.

At the entrance, a heavily scarred teenager in clothes of Chinese dynasties long past stands massaging his temple. Despite his rather frightening aura, however, Hermione—as well as every other Hogwarts girl—find themselves staring at the teen's exotic features. He really wasn't all that bad looking... despite the slight disfigurement, there was something about the second newcomer that was oddly appealing. He had a roguish, bad-boy look about him wholly unlike any other boy there...

Ron doesn't like him already.

Harry rubs his forehead, thinking, for the first time, that _his _scar isn't so bad...

At the Slytherin table, Draco straight-up mutters that he's _'an ugly twat.'_

Pansy tells him to be quiet for once.

Everyone agrees.

"Zuko...?" asks 'Aang.' "What is it?"

"That's...not Avatar Roku." he grits.

'Aang' looks stricken. He glances back and forth between Dumbledore and 'Zuko' before asking shakily: "H-how do you know?"

'Zuko' pinches the bridge of his nose, irritated.

"Firebenders don't wear purple." he replies.

"Oh, yeah." 'Aang' says lamely.

* * *

—

**A/N: **(1) let's just pretend that Aang's too overwhelmed here to remember that you can't bend in the spirit world LOL! of course, he will realize that later in upcoming chapter-drabbles...

please review! ^^"


	2. ni hao

**Title: **Call of the Tsungi Horn**  
Rating: **T**  
Fandom: **Avatar: The Last Airbender/Harry Potter Crossover**  
Genres: **Humor, Friendship**  
Summary: **Zuko thinks that dancing is a stupid idea, and ultimately chooses logic over faith when Aang presses him to cooperate a second time. Set during "The Firebending Masters" episode.

**A/N: ** i'm really thankful for the positive reactions to this little fic! ^^ esp. considering the fact that this kinda borders on crack...anyway, enjoy!

* * *

—

**10.**

Aang and Zuko put up no fight as the professors hastily spirit them out of the dining room. Damage control. They cooperate mostly because they're embarrassed: hundreds of curious, prying eyes follow their exit.

"So does this mean we're not dead?" Aang asks hopefully, once they have both plopped down into adjacent chairs in Dumbledore's office.

"You boys very well may be," Snape growls, looming over him. "If it turns out you both are working for—"

"—_Severus."_

McGonagall gives Snape a_ look,_ and at this the potions professor very promptly falls quiet. _'Damn her and her matronly nature,' _he thinks. Hogwarts, to him, should be both ruled and protected with an iron fist...

Dumbledore takes it over from there.

"How did you two get in here?" he asks, aged blue eyes wary with caution.

Zuko, who has only been half-paying attention after deducing that these people are _teachers_ who most likely don't have it in him to kill children, interprets this question as something other than it is.

"...we got burned alive after not wanting to dance." he says simply.

All three professors glance at each other before exchanging subtle nods. A silent understanding is passed between them, and Dumbledore walks behind his desk to retrieve a little glass vial of veritasium he keeps tucked away for situations like these.

"Drink half of this." says Dumbledore, who hands the concoction first to the firebender. "Then give the rest to your friend. It will help us determine whether or not you are a threat to our school."

_'Okay,' _Aang is about to say amicably, but Zuko knows him too well and shoots a hand out to his lips before he can. Obediently, the avatar clamps his mouth shut. He looks nervously to Zuko for guidance—vaguely sensing that something is wrong—but the firebender has his glare zeroed in solely on Dumbledore.

"No, what is it?" he asks suspiciously.

"Truth serum." Dumbledore answers honestly.

Zuko looks enraged.

"What kind of teachers _are_ you?!" he snarls. "I am_ not _letting you give booze to a twelve-year-old!"

"Oh dear." says McGonagall. "I think...I think they're _muggles!"_

"Or, just teenagers." Snape mutters sourly.

—

**11. **

Many death glares and unpleasant names are exchanged between Snape and Zuko before Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Aang manage to quell their bickering.

"Zuko, let's just do it." Aang says quietly. "They're just worried for their students..."

"And what if it's poison?" Zuko snaps back.

Aang uncharacteristically breaks out into a snide little grin.

"So you_ do _still think we're alive..." the monk sniggers.

The fire prince grows flustered and elbows him in the ribs. Or, at least that's where he's aiming for, but Zuko is taller and forgets that, so instead the hard bone jams into Aang's bare collar. (1)

The younger boy lets out a cry of surprise and pain, and in panic and guilt Zuko hurriedly demands the old headmaster the vial of veritasium to make up for it. He downs half of it in one go, then grudgingly hands the rest to Aang who is still rubbing his chest. He murmurs a soft _'sorry' _ as the avatar shuts his eyes and repeats the action. The vial is emptied.

"It's okay." Aang whispers back, and the youngsters sit there and more or less smack their lips as they wait.

Snape is the one who begins the interrogation.

"Who are you?" He asks sharply.

"Prince Zuko, of the Fire Nation."

"Avatar Aang, of the Southern Air Temple."

"Who sent you?" McGonagall asks, troubled.

"Ran and Shaw." Zuko answers sullenly.

"And who are they?"

"The firebending masters, and the last dragons on earth." quipped Aang.

"_Why _did they send you?" she presses. These answers make no sense. There is no Fire Nation and she's never heard of a Southern Air temple. There are still plenty of dragons in existence and what in the world is _firebending? _McGonagall is beginning to wonder if these two are merely escapees from St. Mungos...

Aang's huge ears flatten a bit as he turns to glare at Zuko. The firebender merely rolls his eyes and lets out a small huff, crossing his arms.

Dumbledore looks on, deep in thought. He strokes his beard, and finds a hidden lemon drop that must've gotten lost there when he was eating carelessly. Oops.

"Well?" Snape barks, clapping his hand onto Zuko's shoulder and giving it a forceful shake. The teenager tosses the offending appendage off balefully and growls.

Never less, the truth comes up like vomit.

_"...because we didn't want to dance!" _Zuko blurts.

"HAH!" Aang exclaims, gleefully. "So you admit it! I was right!"

"Shut up!"

"Enough." Dumbledore says gently. "Moving on. Why are you here?"

"We're looking for Avatar Roku." says Aang, ignoring his grumpy sifu who is currently boring holes into the side of his head. "We want to find him so he can tell us how to get back to the real world. Sorry I mistook you for him earlier, sir. I just got excited..."

"It's alright." the headmaster chuckles. "But, what exactly do you mean by 'the real world?'"

Aang blinks.

"Well, um, aren't we in the _spirit world _right now?"

"No, dearie. You're alive, and in London." says McGonagall.

Zuko feels an unmeasurable surge of relief well up within him upon hearing that no, they aren't dead, and still have a chance to save the world. But...

_'London?'_

"Where's that?" asks Zuko, snapping back to attention. "Somewhere in the Earth Kingdom?"

"You're wrong." Aang frowns, turning to face his companion. "I've been all over the Earth Kingdom with Sokka, Katara, and Toph. I've never heard of a place called 'London!'"

"Well, this sure as hell isn't Fire Nation territory!" Zuko retorts. "Did you forget? My dad's Fire Lord—I'd think I'd know if we'd conquered some nightmarish stretch of boondocks in the middle of nowhere!"

McGonagall tries hard not to take offense to this comment. Snape merely snorts; but like both her and Dumbledore, knows to keep quiet since these boys are now revealing valuable information about their origins without them even asking...

"You ran away from your dad a while ago! How would you know?"

"I didn't run away!" Zuko snaps, defensive. "I _defected!_ You know, to your side?"

"Sorry, sorry!" Aang says quickly, putting his hands up. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just—the war's moving so fast..."

Zuko's shoulders slump.

"I know. I'm sorry too."

Dumbledore clears his throat.

"War?" he asks softly. "What war...?"

—

**12.**

"You can't be serious!" Snape seethes, buzzing at Dumbledore's backside like an angry bumblebee. "These two aren't even _wizards!"_

Dumbledore continues to stride across his office to the corner bookcase, where the sorting hat is perched sleepily at the very top. Professor McGonagall quirks her lips up into an amused smile as she stands behind Aang and Zuko, still seated nervously like students about to be disciplined...

"W-what's that?" Aang squeaks meekly, apprehensive of the old, smelly thing beginning to stir back to life in the headmaster's hands. Dumbledore had explained to them earlier that he wished to 'sort' them into the appropriate 'houses' while they stayed in the castle... Aang still didn't understand why he couldn't just stay in the same place as Zuko, and he didn't understand what a weird pointy hat had to do with it.

"Dumbledore, what do you want?" the sorting hat demands crankily. It's tear of a mouth flaps up and down in fluid motions, and Zuko finds himself staring skeptically. Then again, he supposes that this isn't any different from the moving portraits and armor he and Aang had seen earlier...

But, that was before they had known that this entire place was_ real,_ and full of 'magic.'

_'Yeah.' _he thinks vaguely, unwavering. _ 'Like a nightmare.'_

The old wizard smiles, and carries it over to the boys with a brooding potions professor by his side.

"I know it's not next year yet," he says whimsically. "But we have two new students here whom we wish to shelter until we can get back to their respective worlds."

"Aliens?" the hat questions curiously, now fully awake, and Aang laughs outright while Zuko stiffens.

"In a way." Dumbledore answers. "Do you mind?"

"Oh no, not at all." the hat says pleasantly. "I've never sorted aliens before."

Zuko opens his mouth to argue.

"We're not—"

Dumbledore drops the magical artifact on his head before he gets a chance to finish, however, and Prince Zuko falls silent as he feels something strange begin to poke at his consciousness.

Aang watches his friend squirm in his seat. Behind him, McGonagall makes a silent bet that the teenager will end up in Slytherin. She tries to be fair for the most part; but the Gryffindor in her screams bias after it has been revealed that Zuko used to _hunt _the sweet-tempered monk child beside him for 'honor...'

Snape is sure he will end up Gryffindor. Zuko is already wearing that tacky, _tacky,_ gold and red combination, after all... and in all honesty, Severus doesn't want to deal with a student in his house that will backtalk and be such a drama queen.

The hat continues to rustle around Zuko's memories, analyzing his personality.

_'Ah...an ex-prince, supposedly? My, you've been through a lot...'_

_'Tell me something I don't know.' _ Zuko responds gloomily.

The hat smirks.

_'Your soul is still in turmoil, but not as much as it used to be. You've made a resolution. You know what your 'destiny' is now, don't you?'_

_'Yes.' _ Zuko thinks._ 'To teach Aang. To take down my family, and help restore balance to the world.'_

_'That takes much courage. Almost to the point of recklessness, however—so you lack the strategy and meticulousness known to Ravenclaw. Your innate sense of honor prevents you from adopting a 'means to an end' mentality of the cunning Slytherin, so not there. Yes, you have a heart of bravery and daring famous with Gryffindor, but...'_

_'But...?'_

_'You lack chivalry.'_ (2) the hat says plainly. _ 'And there are other traits more significant to your true nature. Like honesty, fairness, loyalty, dedication, hard work—even your developing sense of patience with the young monk over there—these all make fine qualities for...'_

"...HUFFLEPUFF!" the sorting hat announces, and Aang is the only one clapping as all adults merely blink in surprise. Even Dumbledore had not been vouching for that one...

"Your turn." Zuko says awkwardly, as he hands the hat off to Aang.

The airbender gingerly places the old thing on his head, and waits for the strange mental probing that had had Zuko fidgeting so uneasily before him.

It never comes.

"Please lower your occlumency shields." the hat says testily, and McGonagall and Dumbledore raise their eyebrows in surprise. Snape's own eyes narrow in suspicion.

"B-but, I'm not doing anything..." Aang stammers, shifting nervously.

"Fine." the hat huffs. "I'll try again."

It's careful poking soon turns to outright prodding: but the invisible barrier between it and Aang's mind cannot be breached. Seeing no other choice, the hat decides then to deploy a full-on mental body slam, and at last a crack breaks open wide enough for it to slip through and explore Aang's memories...

...only, it's not Aang's memories it ends up delving into, but Kyoshi's.

It sees earthquakes and death, stubborn intelligence and the_ 'means to an end'_ willingness it had been discussing with Zuko earlier.

_'This can't be right.'_ the hat thinks to itself. _'This can't be the same boy on the outside, no way. And I hear a woman's voice...'_

The hat drifts away to find another mental block, and slams into that one as well. It crumbles, having been older than the first, and again the hat is thrust into a random consciousness—Avatar Yangchen's.

It sees calm wisdom embedded in tornadoes. It sees swords of wind slicing bodies apart on battlefields, generals surrendering shakily in fear, and treaties being signed at knife point. It feels spiritual values being sacrificed for the sake of the world, and the vow to do whatever it takes to keep balance.

He hears another female voice echoing throughout these memories as well, but also sees the flash of yellow-orange robes reminiscent of the clothing Aang wears on the outside.

_'Eh, close enough.'_ the hat thinks tiredly, aching from the impacts of breaking through two walls in Aang's head. It doesn't want to body slam anything anymore; it's seen enough death and flying elements for the day. It had thought that Tom Riddle's mind had been the heaviest it'd ever seen, and Harry Potter had eventually overtaken that honor, then Zuko... but Aang's psyche by far takes the cake. The hat is old and just wants to go back to sleep. Aang isn't even going to be a permanent Hogwarts student, so...

In the end, the hat firmly declares '_SLYTHERIN,'_ and this time, only Zuko is clapping as the three professors look on in disbelief.

"What? That's good, right?" Aang asks innocently. He attempts to lift the sorting hat off his shaved head when it gives a wheezing hack and wiggles it's brim out of his fingers, plopping back down onto the airbender's skull.

"Careful, boy! I've got arthritis."

The monk apologizes skittishly, though remaining polite:

"Sorry, m-mister hat sir! I'll be careful this time."

"You better be—o_w!_ Not there, boy. I'm still sore from trying to crack into your brain. Do you know how hard it is?"

"Sorry, sorry..."

"He's going to be eaten alive." McGonagall murmurs pityingly, shaking her head. "Please, Severus. Find it in your heart to look after him."

Dumbledore supplements McGonagall's pleading gaze with his own two cents.

"Yes, Severus. Please. Consider it a personal favor from _me." _

The headmaster winks, and had it been any other old man, Snape would have curled his lip in distaste. This is his employer, however, and so instead Snape merely nods jerkily in resignation.

"What about me?" asks Zuko, annoyed at having been forgotten so easily. "Who's looking after _me?"_

—

**13.**

Professor Sprout, having been occupied in the hospital wards aiding Madame Pomfrey with a Venomous Tentacula accident, cannot be the one to guide Zuko to the Hufflepuff dorms. In her stead, Dumbledore asks the Fat Friar.

He floats cheerfully alongside Prince Zuko.

"How exciting!" the ghost twitters. "Such a mysterious newcomer; sorted into _our_ house!"

"I'm really not all that mysterious." Zuko mutters, nearly stomping down the hall with his guide in tow. "I'm just an ordinary guy."

"Nonsense!" the Fat Friar exclaims. "Where are you from, child?"

"Somewhere far, far away."

"You see? Mysterious!"

"No, _secret." _ grits Zuko.

"Well, you certainly can't tell the other students that! They'll only pry into your _secret _if you want to keep it a _secret..."_

"Well I very well can't reveal myself either, can I? That stupid hat already thinks I'm an alien."

"Are you?"

"_No!"_

"No need to get testy." The Fat Friar chides patiently. "I was only joking. Though we really do need to come up with a cover story for you while you're here..."

He floats ahead of Zuko and settles his translucent form in front of him. Though the firebender can technically still walk straight through the ghost: he doesn't, because while annoying and way too uppity for his tastes, the Fat Friar's been nothing but nice to him. He deserves respect.

At least, as much as Prince Zuko can stand to give him...

"You can past for any number of East Asian ethnicities." the ghost says thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Though, the clothes you were wearing before Dumbledore gave you our uniform...they looked vaguely Chinese?"

"I don't know." Zuko answers.

The Fat Friar beams.

"Chinese it is!"

—

**14.**

"Ni Hao."(3) Zuko says awkwardly, standing in the middle of a black-and-yellow themed common room.

The Hufflepuffs glance fearfully back and forth between Zuko and the Fat Friar; intimidated by his harsh scar and confused as to why he had been brought in by their _house ghost_ of all people...

"This is Zuko." The Fat Friar says unhelpfully. "He's from China."

—

**15.**

In the Slytherin common rooms, Aang is not faring much better. Snape had left him to the snakes without so much as a simple_ 'good luck,'_ and currently he is sweating under the gaze of a hovering Draco Malfoy while the others look on calculatingly.

"That was some entrance you made earlier." Draco drawls. "A lot of gall, that took. And you're only a first-year?"

"Y-yeah!" Aang stutters, remembering that kids his age...or _biological age,_ were in their first year at Hogwarts. "My name's Aang."

"Aang what?"

"What?"

"Your surname, what is it? What family are you from?"

"Uhh..."

What was his cover story again? Oh yeah. That he is from some place called 'Tibet,'and that he is still a monk, but magical, and belongs to some kind of religion called 'Buddhism.'

"I-ummm. I don't have one. I'm just a simple monk." he says honestly, still preferring not to lie much if he can help it.

Blaise Zabini, lounging on the couch, studies him lazily.

"A monk?" he echoes. "With _tattoos?"_

Aang rubs his arrow nervously.

"Um, y-yeah. They're um, master tattoos. For the type of magic I do."

"You mean the air ball thing you made at dinner?"

Aang nods vigorously.

"Whatever." Draco waves. Zabini rolls his eyes. "Let's get back on point. So if you're a monk, then you don't have any family...?"

"Everyone has a family." Aang says uncomfortably. Images of Gyatso, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and even Zuko flit across his mind. "I guess I just don't have a mom and dad like everyone else..."

"So you don't know if you're a pure-blood? Or even a half-blood?"

"Calm down, Draco. He's in Slytherin. Muggle-borns don't get sorted in here." groans Theodore.

"_Quiet!"_

"Well..." Aang says thoughtfully. He is an airbender, and the ability to airbend is genetic. Considering the fact that all air nomads are airbenders and usually never romanced with outsiders, he has to be _pure-blooded,_ right? "...no. I'm a pureblood, through and though."

Draco grins slowly.

"Excellent." he says smoothly. "Then stick with me, kid, and I'll show you the ropes."

* * *

—

**A/N: ** (1) remember here that this story takes place in episode 13 of Book Three: Fire, so Aang's ensemble looks much more like Buddhist monk robes from the real world—draped, one shoulder bare, etc... and is it just me, but does Aang's outfit in _The Firebending Masters _kinda look like a combination of Tibetan (color) and Cambodian/Vietnamese/Thai (style)? correct me if i'm wrong!

(2) it's a joke LOL. i mean, have you seen you seen the way Zuko interacts with other people after joining The GAang? he's soooo awkward (in a funny/good way) but you gotta admit that Zuko isn't the most tactful guy out there...

(3) hmm...guess the Fat Friar taught Zuko some basic Mandarin!

...if you guys can't tell, Aang's sorting is purely crack. i seriously think he'd really end up in Hufflepuff with Zuko—whose sorting in this story is only half-crack LOL! but no really. ^^; though i think he'd do good in Gryffindor, it's not so fun if the Golden Trio has such easy access to our favourite firebender you know...? don't worry, they'll be in the next chapter for sure. ;)


End file.
